Michelle Wang's path from being a shy, quiet kid to winning the prestigious serves as a testament to her dedication and passion for community involvement.
"I never really intended to be a leader," says the recent Dal grad from Cow Bay, a small community on Nova Scotia's eastern shore. "But through my passion for the initiatives and organizations I'm part of, my leadership has emerged very organically."
The award, often likened to Canada's Rhodes Scholarship, will enable Michelle to further her studies this fall at , covering all tuition and fees for a master's degree and providing a living stipend, leadership development, mentorship, and much more.
Michelle, who graduated from Dal last spring with a combined honours in Social Anthropology and International Development Studies (IDS), says she's looking forward to developing as a scholar at McGill and immersing herself in a research project related to migration and diaspora communities.
It's a topic that's been close to her heart for years. At Dalhousie, Michelle was heavily involved in 鈥檚 student refugee program and co-led the sponsorship of four refugee youth 鈥� the first such groups to come to Dal following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
I am really passionate about education and making that a reality for people
"I am really passionate about education and making that a reality for people," says Michelle, who served as co-chair of WUSC鈥檚 local Dal-King鈥檚 committee. 鈥淚'm proud that I was able to help build the committee from a few people to over 20 members and ensure the students got comprehensive peer-to-peer support."
Michelle Wang crossing the stage during Spring Convocation last year.
When Michelle spent a semester abroad in Singapore during her third year, she developed a new appreciation for her own background as a second-generation Chinese Canadian.
"Coming from a small community where there wasn't a lot of diversity and then going to Singapore and being surrounded by Asian people definitely changed how I see myself and how I see the dynamics surrounding migration and race," she says.
Michelle says the experience abroad 鈥� in combination with certain Dal courses 鈥� sparked her inner activist and motivated her to get involved in the Asian diaspora community.
"My idea of what community started to open up a little bit more, and I started to realize that it's not just your local community that's important. It can be a global community."
A "deep" and "brilliant" thinker
Dal IDS Professor Dr. Kate Swanson, who taught Michelle in two courses at Dal, describes her former pupil as 鈥渂rilliant.鈥�
鈥淪he is a deep and careful thinker who demonstrates genuine curiosity about the world,鈥� says Dr. Swanson, who recently invited Michelle to contribute to a co-edited book she鈥檚 working on for McGill-Queens University Press. 鈥淪he is a remarkable writer. Her work weaves together theory and empirics in a sophisticated way.鈥�
Dr. Swanson also describes Michelle someone who cares deeply about community well-being, noting her work with WUSC, her role as an exec with Dal鈥檚 Sociology & Social Anthropology Society, her writing for campus newspapers, and her volunteer work at the . 听
鈥淲hile the world is admittedly difficult right now, Michelle chooses to remain hopeful as she actively works to make the world a better place,鈥� she says.
While the world is admittedly difficult right now, Michelle chooses to remain hopeful
Following graduation, Michelle joined 鈥� an international non-profit organization dedicated to empowering and unifying Asian youth through intersectional activism. She has served as a writer and social media manager with the group.听
She has also stayed engaged in research at Dal, continuing her work as a research assistant for Sociology professor Dr. Jonathan Amoyaw on a project about food insecurity among international students in Halifax. Separately, she鈥檚 worked with Dr. Michael Halpin on an investigative analysis of Reddit threads on Asian masculinity.
Lifting people up
As she heads into a new phase of life in Montreal, Michelle says she carries with her a lot of lessons from her time at Dal 鈥� one, in particular, from Dr. Swanson, who she calls an important mentor.听
"I think maybe the main take away that I've learned from her is the importance of hope as a verb and hope as something you earn through action," says Michelle. "We talk about a lot of really heavy, depressing issues and keeping the idea that you can maintain hope through action and through involving yourself in your community and through initiatives that lift people up through kind of principles of mutual aid and collective care has been really helpful in encouraging me to keep being involved."
This year, the McCall MacBain Scholarships at McGill also offered 95 entrance awards ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 each to top candidates not selected for the cohort. From Dalhousie, Sarah Rondeaux (BSc鈥�25), Laura Colford (BHP鈥�25), and Ernest Ng (BSc鈥�23) earned entrance awards for their upcoming studies.
Learn more about Dal's previous McCall MacBain scholars:听Fatima Beydoun, Caroline Merner,听Anna Gaudet, Chantel Findlay, and Caleigh Wong.听